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“Not yet.”
We laugh when a male groan reaches our ears.
Turning, we find Michael lounging against the side of the house. “How long have you been there?”
He smirks, moving closer. “Long enough to discover that my fiancée is bossy.”
Beaming a smile at him, I slide easily into his arms when he reaches us. He kisses my forehead and holds his sister’s gaze. “If you need us, no matter what time of day or night, you call.”
Charlotte smiles and after hugging us both, disappears inside the house.
“Will she be okay?” Michael asks me, watching the door she’s just stepped through.
I sigh. “I think so.”
He curls his arm around my waist and keeps me anchored against him. “I’m glad our relationship was a lot easier than Charlotte’s. I don’t think I’d have survived being separated from you for a moment.”
“I’m where I want to be Michael.”
“Hope you don’t mind a short engagement,” he whispers.
I lift my face to his, and smiling, reply, “The sooner the better.”
THE END
59
Prologue
Charlotte
Even though I’m trying to act oblivious, I’m well aware that Tanner Jackson’s deep brown eyes are following me as I move around the garden. I’m aware because my body hums—my skin feels tight, my breasts heavy, and there’s a gentle throb between my legs.
We only met a few hours ago, just before my sister, Sirena, said ‘I do’ to her new husband, Garrett. It’s my sister who I should be thinking about and seeing to, but all my thoughts are on the delicious man whom Garrett had introduced me to.
Tanner is taller than I am, with broad shoulders and a trim waist. My hands itch to rub his close-cropped, dark brown hair or slide over his light beard, which gives him a sexy look. His thighs in slacks make my fingers twitch to touch and stroke.
The heat coming off of him toward me is scorching, and I can’t stop imagining what it would feel like to be tangled between the sheets with this sexy man.
He actually has no right to be looking at me the way he is because he’s engaged. His fiancée, back home, is expecting her man to stay true to her. Tanner isn’t though. His eyes track me again as I leave the main table and head toward the large garage. I need five minutes alone...away from the gaze that is branding me. That’s all. Nothing more. If I don’t get this break, I’m afraid I’m going to self-combust.
Slipping through the door into the dark space, I wrap my arms around my stomach while trying to catch my breath now that I can breathe. It shouldn’t be so difficult but Tanner has me on edge and jittery. I’m sure my siblings and cousins noticed. I’m aware my mother did. She doesn’t miss anything to do with her family.
My hands tremble as I concentrate on inhaling and slowly exhaling, but that feeling of arousal, of need, won’t leave me alone.
“Charlotte,” my name is whispered through the crack in the door, and I know whose voice it belongs to.
My heart beats erratically in my chest as I watch him slip inside the garage. There’s no escape with him filling the doorway, even though I’m not sure that’s what I truly want.
Tanner captures my gaze and I feel his longing, which should be ridiculous considering we don’t know each other. But this feels so right.
“We shouldn’t be in here together,” I mumble. “People will talk.” I try to brush past him—afraid of what will happen if I stay here.
The minute he sees me move for the door, he steps in front of me, resting his hands on my bare shoulders. A ripple of pleasure hits me and I close my eyes, inhaling his scent. His hands tremble as his fingers spread and he rubs circles against my skin with his thumbs.
“You feel this too?” he asks, surprise in his voice. “I didn’t want to feel this. I never asked for this. But I can’t stop.” He dips his head and nuzzles into my neck as one of his arms curls around my waist. “Tell me to stop, Charlotte…make me back away from you…I will if you want me to…”
I feel his words more than I hear him as his breath caresses along my skin. I close my eyes, fighting every sensation, but my body has taken control and is overruling my brain on what I should do. I should run past him and never be near him again. Even as I’m giving those commands to my body, my fingers slide into his hair.
